1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, or your favorite kind of sandwich, maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

Okay, who wants questions?

Questions submitted by fenriss:

1. So, who's your pick for 2008? I mean, ignoring things like electability, or who pwns the DNC, who do you really like?

John Edwards. He was the first to have a plan for universal health care, his energy plan is solid and goes beyond the minimum (and doesn't include liquid coal!), he's a career lawyer who made a name for himself going after big corporations on products liability charges, he spent the last few years creating an anti-poverty initiative that provides college scholarships to needy students, he doesn't accept money from lobbyists. He's a good guy with good ideas.

Here's a report from one person at the YearlyKos convention:

I had submitted a question to the Presidential Leadership Forum, but it was not asked during the Forum, so I decided to ask John Edwards the question and I was a bit surprised when he pointed to me and I had the opportunity to ask the question. My question was this, "I am part of the 15% of the U.S. population that is atheist or non-believer. Most of the candidates use religious language that turns off this large percentage of the population. How do you plan on addressing the concerns of the non-believers?" John Edwards gave a really good answer. He first asked if I had any problems with using the word "moral" and I said that I didn't. He explained that he tries to use the language of morality rather than of faith because he feels that it is the responsibility of the President to represent the views of all Americans whether they believe in a Christian God, some other form of God, or no God at all. He then asked me again if I was comfortable with his using the language of morality and I said "I have no problem with that. You don't need to believe in God to be moral." And that got a pretty big round of applause when I said that.

The only thing the press can tar him with is the haircut thing. His response to that was brilliant.

2. Name one growing thing that is really thriving in your yard right now.

Besides weeds? :p Dude, Rob uprooted a weed that was literally as tall as me. Jeez.

We're at the very beginning of planting for the next warm-weather season, so the only thing that's actually growing is the basil. Which we really, really need to cut back. If only Rob liked pesto as much as I do. :)

3. All of your SL avatars are sitting around a room, unobserved by anyone else. What is the first thing anyone does or says?

Ceres asks if everyone wants to see the new thing she made. :)

4. What helps you head off an oncoming bout of anxiety?

Breathing deeply, first of all. That's so ingrained that sometimes I don't recognize that I'm starting to panic until I notice I'm taking deep breaths. After that, analyzing what I'm panicking about, telling myself that the obsessive thought is a symptom of anxiety disorder and doesn't mean that things are as bad as they seem. And then going over my future plans for a lifestyle with a small ecological footprint, especially going over small details (i.e. how will we do x?) At that point the anxiety either ebbs, or I drug myself insensible. Usually the first. :)

5. What's your favorite bread recipe to bake?

To bake would be challah. It's fun to braid, and the end product is SO beautiful and satisfying. Also, it's tasty. :) My favorite to eat is sourdough, but that is a pain in the ass to bake. If I lived in the northwest, I'd be making sourdough bread every week. In fact, I'm going to Oregon next year for vacation, and I'm already planning on mixing up a starter and baking sourdough at the end of the week.